


The Ritual

by iamtheegg



Category: Realicide - Grej (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Mourning, Necromancy, Other, Sacrifice, Time Travel, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:14:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27097930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamtheegg/pseuds/iamtheegg
Summary: Communalist has to FIX everything. It's up to THEM. So they go find the only one they can trust, the only other person who is PURE.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter 1

“You killed him. You killed our friend.”  
“I-- Look, Communalist, it was a long time ago, okay? And, I mean, it was funny--” he was cut off by being shoved into a wall. “What the fuck are you doing?” he gasped.  
“It wasn’t funny. It-- it was--” They started to sob, but quickly pulled together. “But we suppose there was a benefit, in a way. You showed us that the world is impure. We learned.” Their mouth pulled into an almost predatory grin. “We learned we have to--- to FIX it. We learned that--”  
Darwinist elbowed them in the face. “Shut the fuck up! I- I can fight you off, I’m stronger--” he panted,  
“You’re impure.” They growled, face contorting. “You’re evil and you’re impure and we’re here to fight that, we’re here to fix the world --” their hands tightened on his neck -- “it’s BROKEN and WE were CHOSEN, chosen by the ELDER ONES, to PURIFY it--”  
“Agh! Stop it, you fucking--” Darwinist gasped “--fucking [swears], y-you’re crazy-” his words got quieter as Communalist’s grip tightened, the maniacal grin never once leaving their face. Darwinist blacked out.

He woke up on a cold, smooth floor, dizzy with a sharp pain in his abdomen. He opened his eyes but most of his vision was blacked out,  
Slowly Darwinist’s vision cleared. Bright fluorescent lights glared at him. As his eyes adjusted, he saw the room he was in was covered in machinery that looked on the brink of collapse. Some of it was old, rusting iron, some very modern steel and plastic, and some glimmered in the blinding lights of the room almost like gold. Communalist was standing over him.  
When did they change? They used to be the least threatening one on the team. It looked almost like they were the source of the fluorescent light, but Darwinist wasn’t crazy. That wasn’t possible.  
He closed his eyes against the glare that seemed to come from everywhere at once.  
“Oh, you’ve woken up.” Communalist’s voice rang in his eardrums like tornado sirens. “Good, good. We’ve almost completed the ritual, and we were beginning to worry you wouldn’t wake up in time.” They sounded disturbingly upbeat, like a cheerful cooking show host describing a recipe for cannibalism.  
“What the fuck are you talking about,” he growled faintly, vocal cords barely working.  
“We told you.” He heard them step closer. “We’re fixing things. We’re fixing everything.” He heard some sort of metal on metal clinking, and then a lot of sounds. “This isn’t entirely your fault, you know. You’re just one of the IMPURE. There’s a lot more people we have to FIX.” They laughed softly. “But it just makes SENSE to start with you. You killed Moralist, after all. You killed our FRIEND. And, since we’re bringing him back, it just makes sense to use you for it.”  
Darwinist blinked a few times. He was right, they’d gone off the fucking deep end, he had to get out of here.  
He opened his eyes, squinting at the bright light, and pushed himself up. Now that he was in more of a sitting position, he could see himself. His body was covered in blood. Everything between his legs and his neck felt like it was on fire. “What the fuck did you do to m--” Darwinist hissed, felt their boot on his chest, as Communalist pushed him back down. “You’re not leaving. We haven’t finished the ritual yet! You’re not leaving. That would be just dreadful, wouldn’t it?” They pushed down harder, and Darwinist clenched his teeth. He was not going to show weakness in front of them. H heard the shing of a sharp-sounding metal thing, as he heard them rambling about something or other, time travel or the elder ones, the only word he processed was SWORD; that wasn’t good. He tried to push them off of him, if he could just get them off-- They stomped on him again, and he gasped.  
“Mmm. Guess you aren’t so tough after all, are you? You were lucky when we used to be on your team. You were lucky we were pacifistic. But we aren’t anymore, are we now, and we’re not putting up with your IMPURITY for much longer either, no.”  
He couldn’t believe he was dying to this-- to THEM! They were the weakest--  
They swung.  
Darwinist screamed, as their sword sliced through his already-damaged abdominal organs. As his consciousness faded for what was probably the last time, he heard in the background some sort of chant, he couldn’t piece anything together, and now the room was spinning that’s just GREAT, and FUCK this fucking hurt and how could he go down like this, he was so much stronger than that, his mind rambled on about how he couldn’t die like this but it was happening regardless of what he had to say about it, and with a rattling wheeze his body finally shut down.

Cult Communalist set down their sword on the altar, machines whirring around them. They smiled. They were finally on their way to save Moralist, to purify everything, to FIX the world.


	2. Chapter 2

Communalist hummed to themself as they watered their plants. The sun was setting in the realicide house and it reflected off the greenhouse glass in the loveliest way, making small rainbows everywhere and making the colorful plants seem to glow in the dying light. The other three were off doing who knows what, so they had the house to themself.  
"Peace and quiet at last," they muttered, right before a loud CRASH came from the kitchen. Communalist jumped, almost dropping the watering can. "Ah! What was that?" Carefully, they set down the cactus they'd been watering, and ran to the kitchen. Most likely, it was just Egoist trying to microwave soup without opening the can again, but they'd still have to stop the resulting fire.  
When they got there, the lights were off, and dishes were scattered everywhere. What a mess! They heard heavy breathing, and smelled a metallic smell that they cou;dn't tell was blood or just broken pots. Hopefully it wasn't another dead animal.  
They flipped the light switch. It did nothing.  
"Hello? Is someone there?" Communalist called, carefully stepping over bits of broken metal and glass. Did something just move? It didn't seem like anyone they recognized. Maybe it was one of the realists? "Hey, you don't have to be scared. We're not going to-"  
A pot clashed to the floor, as something rose from the pile of smashed cookware. A bit nervous, they took a step back. Whoever this was was tall, taller than anyone they recognized. About their height actually. But this stranger carried themself differently.  
"Hi!" they greeted them, trying to push away their worry. Most likely they'd just gotten lost and, um, wanted food or something, and Communalist wanted to be as welcoming as possible. "Sorry bout the lights, they're not working for some reason. We're Communalist, they/them please, and-  
"We know."  
That voice sounded awfully familiar. "You know?" Communalist tilted their head. "Oh, you must have heard of the realicide then! We guess it is a pretty big deal. Anyway, what's your name?

"Oh no, that's not why." The stranger laughed. Communalist definitely knew them from somewhere, they were sure of it, but they couldn't quite place-- "We are you."


	3. Chapter 3

"You.. are us?" Communalist tilted their head in confusion. "Well, we guess identity is a social construct and everything.. do you mean, like, you're like us, or--"  
"No. We are you. Did- You heard that crash, right?"  
Communalist nodded in reply, though they understood less than before.  
"That was our attempt at time travel. And-- well, it must have worked, considering we're here, with ourselves!" The stranger-- er, other Communalist-- stepped forward, grinning. Yep, it was themself alright. Their clothes were different, but otherwise they were the spitting image of them.  
Their grin looked similar to Communalist's, but somehow.. different. Desperate, perhaps. Like a lost traveler finding a manmade structure for the first time in weeks. Somewhat intimidating, their grin a bit too wide, unnaturally stretched, their teeth - Communalist noted they seemed to have gotten sharper, but maybe it was just the severe lighting - glinting white in the dim light like anime glasses.  
The smile didn't reach their eyes. Their grin was full and terrifying, a grandiose display of victory to hide something wrong right behind their eyes. A great white shark working a shitty customer service job.  
"What?" The other Communalist asked. "Are we-- Well, it must be pretty weird to meet your future self. We should give you some time to adjust before saying why we're here; it should be a while before.. 'it' happens, anyway," they said, hesitating when they got to 'it.' "Mind if we stay for a bit?"  
"Oh, of course you can stay!" Communalist smiled. "Are you okay with staying with us? There aren't any extra rooms."  
"No problem. Hey, you still have that greenhouse, right? Can we see it?"  
"Sure! Let's go!" Communalist took their self's hand and started walking toward the greenhouse.  
"Thanks," their older self squeezed their hand. "We missed it."  
Communalist looked back at them. "Did our greenhouse get broken or something? Oh, is that why you're here! We knew Darwinist should be more careful with his explosives.." Seeing their counterpart's distraught expression, they trailed off. "Did something happen? What's wrong." They stopped walking, and their other reluctantly stopped. "Hey, we know you probably don't want to worry us, and we get it-- we mean, of course we're still processing the whole 'time travel is possible' thing, and messing with timelines is probably not the best idea," They held up their future self's hands at like chest height, "but we're gonna be here for you, okay? Whatever this is, we're sure we can get through it together. Okay?" Communalist smiled.  
Future Communalist looked at their hands They felt memories flooding in and pushing towards their eyes, threatening tears. For the first time since-- since 'it' happened, Communalist felt truly supported.  
They swallowed. Not going to cry, it's all going to be fine soon.  
They looked up to their double's face, all smiles. They used to smile that often.  
Future Communalist smiled faintly back, perseverance pulsing through their veins. They weren't about to let another Communalist get hurt like that. "Thank you. We knew we could count on us."  
"So you're okay?" Past Communalist asked, letting out a breath.  
They nodded. "Let's keep going. It's been a while since we saw our greenhouse last."  
Communalist resumed walking, side by side this time. They hoped whatever 'it' was wasn't too bad. They hoped that the other Communalist wasn't too bad, either; they were giving off sort of a Jason Dean vibe.  
Well, surely nothing could change Communalist too drastically. Time travel was probably just tiring, or something, they reassured themself. Their double would be fine in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyo sorry this took so long! i spend more time thinking of what to write than actually writing hrhr. side note, any lemon demon or blue kid fans? i wrote this listening to Lifetime Achievement Award and The Dismemberment Song, I'd recommend them, they're pretty epic songs :)


	4. Chapter 4

Cult Communalist sat on their old bed, mind racing. After years of hating themself for letting Moralist die, and more years of trying and failing and trying again to set it right, after what felt like an eternity of tests and blueprints and regret, they had done it. They had turned back time. It still didn't feel quite real. They wondered if it was fake, one of their daydreams they used to keep themself together when it got bad.  
They looked up at the sound of a door opening, internal tangle disrupted by their double.  
"Do you still like tea?" Their past self was carrying a tray with two tea cups and some cookies on a plate. "We made some for you-- us?-- Well, we made some extra, but if you don't want it we could get you something else." They carefully set it on a table by the bed, then sat down.  
"Thanks." Cult Communalist picked up one of the cups.  
"So, do you want us to sleep on the couch or something? We'd understand if you do, time travel must have taken a lot of energy and stuff."  
"Oh, no, time travel wasn't that tiring, it was mostly the preparation. And- we're okay with staying together. We mean, it's been a while since we've had.. any contact." They looked down. It was true, the time travel itself didn't take much energy, but they were exhausted.  
"That must have been awful! What happened?" Cultcom felt hands on theirs, and looked back up, to see their past self looking at them with concern in their eyes.  
"We really don't want to talk about it." Sensing their double's nervousness, they added, "Don't worry though, we're here to prevent it."  
Communalist nodded, nervously smiling. "Ok. Let us know if there's anything we can do to help." They yawned. "It's pretty late. Is it okay if we turn out the lights?" Cultcom nodded.  
Cultcom leaned against them. Communalist lightly patted their hair, and Cultcom smiled and leaned into their touch. They’d missed physical comfort. Eventually the warm smells of home and the weight of both the blankets and their double’s arms around them dropped Cultcom into an unusually peaceful sleep. Finally, fixing everything was just within reach. Tomorrow they would get started making things right again.


End file.
